During the middle of yet another tedious bomb drill one Wednesday afternoon, Mrs. Baker decides to take things into her own hands. She tells Holling that they will leave the classroom to survey "points of local architectural interest."
Once permission is granted by Holling's mother and Mrs. Sidman at the Main Administrative Office, Mrs. Baker takes Holling on a field trip. She drives both of them over the Long Island Expressway to a Quaker meetinghouse...
During the middle of yet another tedious bomb drill one Wednesday afternoon, Mrs. Baker decides to take things into her own hands. She tells Holling that they will leave the classroom to survey "points of local architectural interest."
Once permission is granted by Holling's mother and Mrs. Sidman at the Main Administrative Office, Mrs. Baker takes Holling on a field trip. She drives both of them over the Long Island Expressway to a Quaker meetinghouse on the north side of the city; this meetinghouse was a station on the Underground Railroad a hundred and fifty years ago.
Next, Mrs. Baker shows Holling the first jail on Long Island. Holling discovers that the jail only has two cells, one for men and another one for women. The first man to occupy a jail cell there had been found guilty of stealing a horse, while the first woman to be imprisoned there had failed to pay the required church tax.
On the east side of town, Mrs. Baker and Holling visit Hicks Park (formerly known as Hicks Common) where the first settlers grazed their cattle. They also visited Saint Paul's Episcopal School, where British soldiers were quartered during the American Revolution.
On the south side of town, Holling visits a Jewish synagogue, the Temple Emmanuel. It had been rebuilt thrice during its lifetime. The first temple burned down because of lightning. The second building was torched by British soldiers as a punishment to the congregation for supporting the American Revolution, and the third building was destroyed by arsonists. Mrs. Baker maintains that the ark holding the Torah was never damaged in any of the three fires.
On the west side of town, Mrs. Baker points out to Holling the first abolitionist school in North America. The last place Mrs. Baker and Holling visit is the Catholic St. Adelbert's Church. There, Holling prays that a bomb never drops on his high school or on any of the places he has just visited. He prays for Danny Hupfer in his Hebrew class, Lieutenant Baker in the jungles of Vietnam, and his sister in her car, on the way to California.
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